Fire changes continue - 9 player options declined, 4 renewed

The Fire announced today that nine players have had their options declined for next season. Among those are Adailton, Jon Busch, Razvan Cocis, Greg Cochrane, Jason Johnson, Alec Kann, Jeff Larentowicz, Lovel Palmer, and Chris Ritter. The loan deal for Daneil Cyrus has expired.

In addition to those ten, there are also three players out of contract. Ty Harden, Mike Magee, and Matt Watson do not have deals in place for 2016 in Chicago. Busch, Larentowicz, Magee, and Harden will be eligible for Free Agency , while Palmer and Watson will be made available in the Re-entry Draft.

There are currently nine players under contract for next season to go along with the four previously mentioned with options accepted. That list includes David Accam, Collin Fernandez, Eric Gehrig, Gilberto, Kennedy Igboananike, Sean Johnson, Joevin Jones, Patrick Nyarko, and Michael Stephens.

Players whose options were declined may return to the club if restructured deals can be struck. Larentowicz and Busch would seem to be possibilities to fit into that category. Magee may well have suitors elsewhere.

Hard to argue with the release of those players, or restructuring of contracts for some of them. Wonder how low they can go with Busch, though - what was his salary last year? Management has a poor record of incorporating veteran players into the coaching ranks, otherwise I would think of that as an option. Unless NR thinks differently than the previous regimes.

The only reason anyone would be sad to see any of these guys go is if they were dumb enough to buy one of their jerseys. By the way, anyone interested in buying a slightly used Nery Castillo Fire jersey?

Here's the full transcript of Nelson Rodriguez's round table. Free access to this at The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/85680/2017/08/16/full-transcript-fire-general-manager-nelson-rodriguez-holds-media-roundtable/